As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to these users is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may vary with respect to the type of information handled; the methods for handling the information; the methods for processing, storing or communicating the information; the amount of information processed, stored, or communicated; and the speed and efficiency with which the information is processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include or comprise a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An information handling system may include numerous elements which require power to operate, including processors, hard disk drives, DVD-drives, fans, etc. Existing information handling systems attempt to optimize the power use according to the configuration of the elements in the information handling system. The optimization may include the creation of a power inventory, which reflects the maximum power consumption for the configuration of the information handling system identified during a boot process. One problem with an existing power inventory is that it does not reflect changes in system configuration after the boot process is complete. Instead, current information handling systems must add a guard-band of extra power into the power inventory to account for changes in the system, leading to an inefficient use of power and a decrease in the accuracy of the power inventory. Another problem with an existing power inventory is that it is typically limited to modeling the power consumption at a particular utilization, such as 100%, and does not account for other utilizations, configurations, and states of the information handling system.